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23/07/2010

On Sunday 25th July, Travel Dundee will introduce changes to the routing of the 5A and 5B circular buses in Broughty Ferry. These revisions are being introduced only one month after the upheaval of new bus routes and timetables throughout the city.

Following difficulties keeping the four an hour combined 5A & 5B services running to time, Travel Dundee have gained permission from the Traffic Commissioners to half the number of buses (two instead of four) that cross the railway line and drive through central Broughty Ferry. This will reduce the service through the central Broughty Ferry south of the railway line to a half hourly service.

Many residents in Barnhill will be disappointed that the revisednewroutes for the 5A and 5B services will remain only operating in a one way direction round the Barnhill loop, which prevents some bus users from practicable outward and return journeys by bus.

Folk who use the 5A and 5B buses to travel directly into central Broughty Ferry may be wary that these reductions in the 5A and 5B services that run through the Ferry are just the thin end of the wedge. If, as Travel Dundee claim, delays at the Gray Street level crossing are to blame for delays in the four an hour combined 5A and 5B services, maybe Travel Dundee will be back soon with another request to scrap the remaining 5A & 5B services that run through Brook Street/Gray Street and Gray Street/King Street.

17/07/2010

Whilst awaiting an apology, I have taken time to reflect and consider the comments made about me in the Dundee Courier and Evening Telegraph by Mrs Fordyce, the Education Convener of the City Council. I now recognise that an apology from her will not be forthcoming. I think this is regrettable.

I also think that such an outburst about me was an attempt to divert attention from the fact that she had been losing the debate at the Education Committee meeting on Monday 28 June. After that meeting, I was approached by several Councillors, including a member from the SNP Group, who expressed their disapproval of the manner in which Mrs Fordyce had chaired the meeting.

It is very important that this matter is put behind us. In the next few months the Council will be considering the £15 million worth of cuts caused by the shortfall in the settlement from the Scottish Government.

A taste of things to come is currently evident in my own ward, where there is a rushed consultation into the proposed move of Eastern Primary School to the old Grove Academy site. This change will, it is claimed, produce savings in overheads and a capital receipt for the Council from the eventual sale of the Eastern Primary School site. It also disguises the fact that the council no longer needs additional offices in Grove, because it plans considerable reductions in council staff in order to cut costs. Too much is at stake to divert any more time from the real issues and choices affecting our children and communities.

04/07/2010

This year's Broughty Ferry Gala week began today. The eight day programme of events is available in a colourful booklet, free of charge, from shop counters in the Ferry.

Amongst the "Summer Fun for all the Family", a particular personal favourite of mine is the shop window guessing competition for the children which has apparently been a feature of the Gala Week since 1932. Spotting the out of place item in 54 shop windows is an intriguing test of perception and a good tour of shop and office fronts in the Ferry. Well done the Gala Week Committee.

On Saturday evening, I attended a remarkable concert in Kilrenny Church in Fife as part of the 2010 East Neuk Festival. Victoria's Requiem was performed by the incomparable Tallis Scholars. As a reviewer wrote about one of their performances in 2007, "It is also difficult to imagine a superior performance of this most shiveringly beautiful of choral works... Under the direction of Peter Phillips, The Tallis Scholars have an exquisite sound."(MusicOMH.com, February 2007)

Welcome

Welcome to my Blog. I hope this provides a helpful record of my work on behalf of constituents in Broughty Ferry and my role as Labour Spokesperson on Education throughout the city during my two terms on the Council: 5 May 2007 - 4 May 2017.